Book's Story Corner
by BookaholicIam
Summary: A home for various small stories I write. Some will be song-fics, or silly, or just plain weird  probably because I'm frustrated trying to write my longer stories . Hoping to add to it regularly. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

_Author's note: I read that for the sixth season, each character has a secret that they've kept from the rest of the team. My tired mind started thinking of interesting, and increasingly odd scenarios for their secrets. For some reason my brain wanted to make fun of poor Hotch._

_As always, I do not own Criminal Minds, I just like to embarrass the characters._

**Hotch's Secret**

Aaron Hotchner glanced around his office. It was later in the evening, almost everyone else had gone home. He drummed his fingers on the desk, and leaned back to look at the middle drawer on his left side. It was in there. He'd been thinking about it all day. He wasn't sure if he could wait much longer. He looked at his door. It was closed, as he usually had it when he was working on the final paperwork of a case. Hadn't he worked hard enough today? There'd been that meeting with Strauss, and then he'd spent the rest of the day working on his computer, and making arrangements for various conferences and consultations that the rest of the team would attend for the next week. He sighed and closed his laptop. If the team found out about it, he'd never live it down. He stood up abruptly, walked to his door, and took a quick look around. The bullpen was empty, no one was around. He went back to his desk and sat down. He opened the drawer and took it out. It was crisp and new, the colors sharp and inviting. He leaned back in his chair and, with a flourish, opened it up. Just as he started to get interested, his door opened. He jerked back up in his chair, and dropped what he was holding. David Rossi stood at the door, looking surprised. Hotch looked back at Rossi, waiting resignedly for his reaction.

"Aaron, what was it that you just dropped on the floor?" he asked, amusedly.

"Dave, why don't you knock?" retorted Hotchner heatedly.

"It looked like a book," he stopped and pointed towards Hotchner, "or maybe a magazine. What is it that you're reading that you don't want anyone to know about?"He started walking towards the desk, to the side where Hotch had dropped the evidence.

"Dave, it's not what you think," said Hotchner as he bent over to pick it up, "It's nothing important." He grabbed it off the floor and tried to put it back in the drawer.

"What, are you in here looking at a Playboy, or something?" Rossi laughed, "Aaron, you're a grown man, and you have every right to relax once in a while. Let me have a look." And he held out his hand.

Hotch mentally cringed, he knew he'd never get Rossi out of his office until he knew the truth. He sighed, opened the drawer, and handed it to Rossi.

"What? Aaron, I would never had expected this of you," said Rossi. Then he started laughing, as Hotch covered his eyes with his hand. "How long have you been reading these?"

"A couple of years. I bought one or two for Jack, for us to read together. Then I got a subscription to X-Men. Then I got a Justice League Unlimited subscription," Hotch told Rossi. "Don't tell the rest of the team, please. I don't want them to know I read comic books.""Why not? There's nothing wrong with it," Rossi asked curiously.

"It doesn't really fit the image of the head of a BAU team," answered Hotch. "So just do me a favor, and keep it quiet, Dave."

"Okay, Aaron, but just remember something," started Rossi.

"What's that? That even adults can act like kids sometimes?" Hotch asked.

"No. That I now have blackmail information on you. Think about that next time you want to try to send me on a road trip with Reid," answered Rossi. He turned around and walked to the door, gave Hotch a quick salute, and quietly closed the door.


	2. Chapter 2

_Author's note: Felt the need to try my hand at a song-fic. This is what resulted. The song is one of my favorites - Breathe a Sigh by Def Leppard. Tried to write about Reid, but Hotch ended up a better fit. _

_As usual, I don't own Criminal Minds, I just like to mess with the characters._

Aaron Hotchner sat at his desk and looked through his paperwork. Sometimes when he was involved enough in his work, he would forget for a while. He felt guilty for being at work late, he should be home with his son by now. But Jack just reminded him of her. Aaron hoped that feeling would go away soon, it made it hard to spend time with his son when Jack needed his father. But looking at his son, he not only saw Haley in his face, but he felt all the guilt of not being there when they had needed him most.

_Let me down slow and easy _

_Cause there ain't nothin' I can do _

_I hope and pray my faith won't leave me _

_When it comes down to me and you _

He still wasn't sure how he'd let it go so wrong. No, that wasn't right. He knew _exactly _how it had gone wrong. He'd let his work come before his family, and the strength that was part of what he had loved about Haley led her to leave when she felt he wasn't giving enough to her and Jack. He had thought if he could only find and catch Foyet again, and put him in jail for good, he would be able to get Haley to come back. God, it always came back to Foyet again. If he could, he would happily kill Foyet with his bare hands a million times over, if it would only bring her back.

_Try a little tenderness _

_I die a little _

_For a long lost sweet caress _

As much as he'd missed her after she'd left him, it was infinitely worse now. When she was alive, there was always the hope that they might be a family again. Sometimes it hit him so hard that she was gone that it was all he could do to keep moving forward. Aaron knew his team was worried about him. It helped, that they cared that much for him. He was sorry for the times he was short-tempered with them, he wished he knew how to tell them without breaking down. He'd lose their confidence in him as a leader if he broke down again.

_You lyin' next to me _

_Fulfilled some destiny _

_I wanna cry _

_But I breathe a sigh_

He remembered the early years of their marriage. How happy they'd been. How excited they were when they'd found out Haley was pregnant with Jack. He smiled briefly to himself, remembering how she'd teased him about his puffed-up male ego when they'd found out it was a boy. Then the smile faded when he remembered again she was gone.

_Just a little bit of letting go _

_I don't want you to know _

_I wanna cry _

_But I breathe a sigh _

He sighed, and rested his forehead in his hand. The headache was back again. Too much staring at papers. Get out of the chair, Aaron. Get up and walk out of here and go home to your son. He's waiting for you, the only parent he has left. The paperwork will be here tomorrow. But, sometimes the people you love aren't.

_Overflow of emotion _

_And a hurt that'll never heal _

_If you close the door forever _

_The fate of pain is sealed_

Aaron's head jerked up as he heard a noise outside his office. Don't let them see you feeling sorry for yourself. He picked up his pen, and looked at the papers in front of him like they were the most important things in the world. That nagging voice in the back of his mind, that sometimes sounded a lot like Foyet, whispered, 'the most important thing in the world, huh? You really should get your priorities straight, Hotchner. You lost one of the truly important things, and if you keep this up, you'll lose the other one. Father, huh? How can you call yourself that when you're here and not with Jack?' "Shut the hell up," Aaron muttered to himself.

_Try a little tenderness _

_I die a little _

_For a long lost sweet caress_

"Yo, Hotch, you gonna stay in here all night, man? The world's not gonna end if you leave that till tomorrow. Go home and play some video games or something with Jack. There's more to life than this place," badgered Derek Morgan, as he stepped inside Hotch's office. Hotch looked up at Morgan, and managed a weak smile.

"You're right. Nothing here can't wait until tomorrow," responded Aaron. He looked at his desk with sudden distaste, and stood up quickly. "I remember promising Jack I'd help him build a lego fort his aunt got for him. Let's get out of here, Morgan."

_I more than long for your affection _

_I tell you now that ain't so _

_Not even gentle persuasion _

_Is ever gonna let me go _

_Won't you let me breathe _

Aaron Hotchner walked out of his office. Another day here done with. Another day farther away from the worst day of his life. He let out a breath; a deep sigh. He closed his eyes and imagined some of his guilt and loneliness leaving his body with it. He focused his thoughts on Jack, thinking how happy his son would be that his dad was home hours earlier than he normally was. Feeling better than he had a couple of hours ago, Aaron Hotchner went towards his car and his son, Jack, the most important thing in his life.


	3. Chapter 3

_Author's note: Wrote this for no particular reason other than I wanted to work on my writing. And I hadn't really wrote much with Garcia and Morgan and wanted to. So there._

_As usual I don't own Criminal Minds, blah, blah, blah_

**A Brief Moment in Garcia's Day**

Penelope Garcia sat at her computer and sighed. The monitors around her streamed information, but she wasn't concerned with anything on them. She toyed with a pencil that had a colorful tufted top, idly swishing it back and forth across her chin. She was so intent on her thoughts, that she jumped when a voice said, next to her ear, "How's it going, gorgeous?"

She smiled and answered, without looking away from the screen in front of her, "Just wonderful now that you're here."

Derek Morgan pulled a chair from under one of the other computer stations, and sat down next to Garcia. Morgan looked at Garcia's profile. He could tell by her voice that she was bothered by something. "What's wrong, baby doll?" he asked gently.

"I don't know, just having one of those days where I wonder if what we do really makes any difference," she mumbled through the fingernail she had started to chew.

Morgan could tell she was not giving him the whole truth. She did not lie very well. There was something more to what concerned her. He decided on a straightforward approach.

"What else is bothering you, Garcia?" he asked bluntly.

She looked sideways at him in surprise, the red-streaked pig-tails on the sides of her head flying outward. She saw him sitting there, wearing a black t-shirt and black jeans, elbows resting on his knees, one hand clasped over the other one, smiling at her in encouragement. She decided to tell him how she felt.

"Sometimes I worry about my team, what we've been through. We've all had bad things happen to us because of this job," Garcia sighed, and looked down at her hands. "Is the job we do worth what the job does to us?"

Morgan nodded his head. He'd felt the same way. No matter that they'd saved a lot of lives and brought a lot of families closure, they'd all been changed by the job, not always for the better. Although Morgan had not understood his reasons at the time, some days he felt like doing what Jason Gideon had done and just walk away.

"Anything in particular make you feel like that today?" he asked.

"Not really, it just popped into my mind," she answered.

Morgan looked fondly at the woman sitting next to him. It was typical of Garcia to worry about the rest of the team. She was sometimes like a mother-hen, worried about whether her chicks were safe. Morgan asked her, "Do you regret anything you've done here?"

She tilted her head to the side, considering his question. "No, I know I'm doing what I'm best at."

"Do you feel differently about any of us because of what we've been through?"

"Only that I'm determined to do my best to make sure none of you get hurt any more than you already have," she answered.

He smiled and leaned over to put his arm around her shoulders. "Then you're doing the best you can, and you know we're doing the best we can also. That will have to be good enough." He sat back, feeling that he'd said the right thing.

"Derek Morgan, you are so full of shit," Garcia laughed, surprising Morgan. "But you've made me feel better." She turned around and looked at her door, then said in a low voice, "Wanna see some photoshopped pics of Strauss that Kevin sent to me?"

"Garcia, we could get in a lot of trouble for that," answered Morgan. He too, turned and looked at the closed door to Garcia's office. "Hell, yeah, bring it on!"


	4. Chapter 4

_Author's note: Poor Reid. I think he still has problems from being kidnapped and tortured. As usual, I don't own Criminal Minds, but I like to take liberties with the characters._

**Reid's Nightmare**

Spencer Reid woke up suddenly, with one hand tangled in his blankets, and the other one splayed, palm out, on top of his forehead. He sucked in a deep, shaky breath, remnants of his nightmare lingering in his mind, making the shadows in his bedroom seem dark and sinister. He sat up slowly, fumbling for the light on the small nightstand next to his bed. He turned it on, and then pushed the top of the lamp so it faced away from him, closing his eyes against the brightness of the light. He pushed the heels of his hands against his eyes, knowing what would follow the nightmare. A feeling of wanting to escape, to be oblivious to the horror he relived whenever he had this nightmare. He got out of bed, knowing the best thing he could do would be to occupy himself with some activity. His white t-shirt was wet with sweat. He walked to his dresser and pulled out a new one. Reid took off his shirt and wiped his face with it, dropped it on the floor, and put on the new one. He rubbed a hand through his hair, and left his bedroom. He walked down the short hall to his kitchen. He went to his fridge and opened it. He looked over the contents, which were sparse. A gallon of milk, half gone, a couple of Styrofoam containers of leftovers from eating out, and some cheese and lunchmeat. He wasn't very good at cooking even though he could read and remember a cookbook from cover to cover. Sometimes his mom teased him that he was so thin because he was incapable of cooking anything more complicated than a grilled cheese sandwich. The light from his fridge cast shadows in his kitchen, shadows that brought back memories. He glanced at his arm as he reached for the cheese slices, and thought he could still see needle marks on his arm. Needle marks that had happened when he'd been taken by an unsub and the true personality of Tobias had given him Dilaudid to make his ordeal easier. It had made the torture easier to deal with, but it had continued to haunt him afterward. He let go of the refrigerator door and sat down on the floor, covering his face with his hands, and started saying, "No, I won't give in. No, I won't give in. I am stronger than that. I won't go back."

He breathed deeply, thinking of nothing else. When the shaking had subsided, he grabbed the handle of his fridge and stood up. He left his kitchen, walking to the living room. Variously shaped bookshelves surrounded the room, with a modestly sized television sitting in between two filled bookshelves. He walked over to the window that faced the street. He watched a car drive past, and a cat walking across the lawn in front of his apartment building. He leaned his forehead against the glass, enjoying the cool feel of it against his skin. Turning around, he walked to a bookshelf and picked up a book. It didn't matter what it was, as long as it kept his mind occupied for a while, until he was able to go back to sleep. He sat down on the couch, stretching his long legs out on the cushions. He opened the cover of the book, and started reading. If it was a good night, he would be able to go back to sleep in an hour or two. On a bad night, he would go to work with the circles under his eyes dark enough to match his coffee. Although he had never been a religious person, he prayed for a good night as he began to read.


	5. Chapter 5

_Author's note: Got the idea for this while talking to THN0715 about muses, and their ability to disappear when you want them, and reappear when you can't write down what they give you. This one's for you, THN, hope you enjoy it!_

_I don't own Criminal Minds, but I take great joy in embarrassing the characters._

**The Hamster Dance**

Picture, if you will, a scene. A scene in an office setting. Picture a group of desks pushed together, and three people, two men and one woman, seated around it, as others walk past them with their own tasks to perform. Of the two men, one is leaning back in his chair, with his feet on his desk. He is dark-skinned, shaved-headed, and very good-looking. The other man is tall and lanky, looking more like an accountant than a FBI agent as he types on his computer keyboard. The woman is dark-haired and attractive, eyes intense as she reads through some papers on her desk. It was a typical day at the BAU, and no one suspected it was about to get strange.

A man exits an office, and following after him is a small boy. He walks over to the three unsuspecting agents as the boy stays close behind him. Morgan quickly takes his feet off of his desk and sits up.

"Morgan, Prentiss, Reid, I think you remember my son, Jack," says Aaron Hotchner, as young Jack peeks at them from behind his father, giving them a shy smile.

"Hey, Hotch Jr.," smiles Derek Morgan. "How are you? Come to work at the BAU already?"

"It's take your child to work day," answers Hotchner. "We've visited Dave and looked at all of Garcia's computers, so now we're here to visit you."

As Hotchner is talking to his team, his son takes the spider-man backpack he's carrying off his shoulder, unzips it, and looks inside. His forehead furrows, and he sticks a hand in the bag. His eyes widen, and he looks up at his father with a look of profound panic on his face.

"Dad," he says quietly, tugging on his father's arm.

"Yes, Jack?" responds Hotchner, concerned by the look on his son's face.

"Remember how I was worried about Mr. Zippy being alone all day?" he asks, looking at his feet.

"Yes, and I told you your hamster would be fine by himself today. Why?" Hotch responds.

"Because I might have brought him with me today," answers Jack, still looking downward.

By this time, the three agents were getting a clear picture of what the conclusion of the conversation would be. Morgan turns to Reid, ready to deliver a witticism about rodents in the BAU, when he feels something brush against his ankle. He looks down, and is greeted by the sight of two beady, black eyes in a small, furry face.

"Yaarggg!" Morgan yells, followed by "Ummph!" as he overbalances himself and falls backwards in his chair onto the floor.

"Dad, I think I lost Mr. Zippy," states Jack, unnecessarily.

Chaos ensues. Prentiss quickly pulls her legs onto her chair, scanning the floor for the escaped hamster. Reid offers his hand to Morgan, only to nearly fall over himself when he jumps as the escapee runs between his chair and desk, moving rapidly.

Prentiss lets out a yelp as the liberated rodent runs under her chair, and stops, clearly confused by all the yelling. Jack sees his pet, and makes a dive for him. The slippery pet evades his young owner, as Hotch also drops to his knees to try to capture the aptly named Mr. Zippy.

"Hamster on the loose!" yells Morgan, hoping that no one steps on the pet of Hotch's son. Various others walking through the bullpen alternately yell and run from the invader, or scan the floor, hoping to help capture the unfortunate hamster.

The path of the Hotchner pet is easy to follow, as an agent jumps backwards, and then behind him, a female agent drops a stack of files with a startled shout. Just as it seems all hope is lost, JJ looks out of her office. Having heard Morgan's warning, she decides to see what is causing such turmoil. She looks at Morgan, just getting off the floor, the two Hotchner's, walking rapidly towards the last known location of the hamster, and the two agents picking up files off the floor. She shakes her head, blonde hair swinging back and forth, and suddenly, drops to one knee and quickly grabs in front of her.

"Got you!" she states, triumphantly.

Standing up gracefully, she gently holds the scared hamster in her hands. She smiles as she hands him to Jack, who had ran to her door when he saw what was happening.

"Here you go, Jack. Mr. Zippy is safe and sound," she says, rubbing her hands together after she hands off the pet.

"Thank you," Jack says delightedly, holding tightly to his hamster.

"JJ, thanks for catching him," says Hotch, gratefully. He looks over his shoulder at the carnage from the flight of the panicked pet. Morgan had righted his chair, and was trading insults with Reid and Prentiss over who was the most scared of a lousy hamster. The fallen files were picked up, and back on their way to their final destination. The agents who had ran were slowly making their way back now that the dangerous runaway had been contained.

"Who would have thought one hamster could cause so many problems?" asks Hotch. "I've seen some of these agents look less frightened facing an armed and insane unsub."

JJ shrugs. "I guess that's why they're FBI agents and not pet store employees."


	6. Chapter 6

_While she may not have the most dangerous job in the BAU, I think Garcia's job is probably fairly stressful. I don't own Criminal Minds, I just like imagining the characters as real people._

**Grand Central Station**

"Garcia!"

"What?" Penelope Garcia screeched, not taking her eyes from the monitor in front of her. A hand dropped on her shoulder, and squeezed lightly.

"Hey, baby girl, what's going on?" asked Derek Morgan, dropping into the chair next to her.

Garcia sighed loudly. "I'm _trying_ to trace this website that _might_ be connected to someone who _might _be involved in a slavery ring." She apathetically poked at a couple of keys on her keyboard.

"What's wrong? The computer goddess losing her omnipotence?" Morgan laughed, and then ducked as a small stuffed duck flew at his head.

He stood up and walked quickly to the door. "I'll come back when you're not so busy."

Garcia absently waved a hand in his general direction. She worked in peace for five minutes, then her domain was invaded again.

"Garcia?"

"What?" she said, in a slightly whiney voice.

"Do you think you could do a search on some names for criminal records?" asked Emily Prentiss, walking in waving a sheet of paper.

"Sure," answered Garcia, "as soon as I finish this and then," she checked the piece of paper to her left, "try to match all possible Nevada license plates containing the letters DT and the number 9 to a black sports utility vehicle." She picked up another piece of paper, "Oh, and I'm supposed to see whether these four names are aliases for the same person. And then I'm supposed to count the grains of sand in Hawaii and put Humpty Dumpty back together again." Garcia's voice had gotten progressively higher and louder as she talked.

Prentiss looked shocked. She walked slowly towards Garcia and set the sheet of paper next to her, and then turned around and quickly walked out.

Garcia growled. Then she set up another search, and started it.

It was a typical day. She had three basic searches going, a couple that were a little more complex, and a another two more that were going to take a little modification to run efficiently. Two of them were a little dodgy, and one of them was downright illegal. Good thing she was one of the best at what she did. She muttered under her breath as she set up the next search.

She grabbed her coffee cup and took a drink. As she considered the sheet of paper Prentiss had brought her, another visitor entered her office.

"Garcia! I need you to make this a priority!" commanded Aaron Hotchner as he strode into the room.

Garcia sighed, and said tensely, "Is it more of a priority than the other two priorities you gave me earlier, sir? If I get another search going before the ones I have already going finish, my computer will be so slow you'd be able to get the results faster by writing letters."

"This can go when the other ones get done," he answered, "How long do you think it will take before you can start this one?"

A printer hummed to life, and spit out a sheet of paper after a short pause. Garcia rolled her chair over to it and picked it up. She nodded, handed it to Hotch, and said, "Here's the results of the alias search. As soon as one or two more finish, I'll start this one. Good enough, sir?"

"It will have to be, I guess," Hotch answered absently as he read the paper. "Good work on this, Garcia," he said over his shoulder as he walked quickly from the room.

Garcia gritted her teeth and went back to her keyboard. She modified a search that had finished with no results, and debated with herself on the best way to go about this new one as she chewed on the end of her pencil.

Just as she was about to start in, a voice intruded. "Garcia," said David Rossi.

SNAP! Garcia looked down and saw she had gripped her pencil hard enough to snap it in two. "Yes, Rossi," she said through clenched teeth.

He looked at her with concern on his face. "You need to relax some, Garcia. You're too tense," he said, seriously.

Garcia really wanted to bang her head on her keyboard.

"Could you," started Rossi.

"Run a search on something?" cut in Garcia, as she typed on her keyboard. She stabbed the letter "r" harder than necessary and watched as her screen started filling with r's as she had hit it so hard it had stuck. She grabbed her nail file and levered the tip under the key so it unstuck the letter.

Rossi raised his eyebrows. "Yeah," he said slowly, as if he wasn't sure he wanted to know what Garcia's reaction would be. "It's not urgent," he offered, hoping it would appease her.

"Well, that makes a change from everything else I've been handed today," she responded in an overly cheerful voice. She held out her hand and Rossi handed her the file he was holding.

She had an expression on her face that might have been a forced smile, or it might have been a grimace of pain. Or maybe both at the same time.

"Garcia, are you okay?" asked Rossi.

"Yes, yes. I'm fine. Top-notch. Now get on out of here so I can finish my other searches and get yours going," she answered, waving a hand backwards at him, shooing him out of her office.

As Rossi left her office, he passed Spencer Reid, who was walking towards Garcia's office. He looked at Reid, and said, "I wouldn't go in there if I were you, she seems a little upset today."

"I'll take my chances," answered Reid.

"Your funeral," Rossi shrugged, and walked away.

Reid watched Rossi walk away with a quizzical look on his face, and then shook his head. He walked into Garcia's office. "Hey, Garcia," he said, a bit hesitantly.

"What is it about today? I think everyone in the entire FBI has been in my office today! It's been Grand Central Station. What do you want me to search for? Criminal records? License plates?" She was starting to wave her hands around. "Waldo?"

"Uh, no," answered Reid. He held out a cup to Garcia. "I brought you the latte you wanted."

Garcia sat with her mouth hanging open in surprise. She took the cup from Reid's hand, and took a long drink. "Wow, I needed that. Thanks, Reid," she said, and turned back to her computer.

Reid blinked in surprise. He turned around to walk out, when Garcia said, "Hey Reid. Sorry I yelled at you."

Reid smiled, and said, "That's okay, Garcia," and walked out the door. Meanwhile, Garcia was hard at work, latte in hand.


End file.
